Conduits of a variety of types are used in delivering an electrical signal, electrical power, or a substance over a distance. Often, numerous conduits are used in close proximity to one another to deliver a plurality of signals, power, or substances between locations. Tracing the plurality of conduits can be difficult, particularly when the conduits become entangled or obscured from view for a portion of the distance over which they travel.
In particular, conduits used in a healthcare setting, such as intravenous (“IV”) tubes, can provide challenges to tracking the various substances delivered to a patient. A patient undergoing treatment in a healthcare setting, such as an emergency room, ambulance, critical care unit, nursing home, or outpatient clinic, may be connected to numerous electronic lead lines and medical tubing for collecting vital information and delivering essential nutrition and therapies. IV reservoir bags hanging on poles next to the patient's bed contain important nutrition, treatments, and therapies to be delivered to the patient through clear plastic IV tubing. This tubing typically passes through IV pumps before being sent directly to the IV site on the patient, where the fluid enters the patient's blood stream.
Healthcare professionals regularly monitor the patient's vital signs, as well as the nutrition and therapy levels delivered through IV tubing. In addition, healthcare professionals must regularly check and replace IV connections at various connection sites to change or replenish the nutrition and therapies being provided to the patient. Connections at the IV site on the patient must be changed at least every 72 hours to reduce the risk of infection.
These tasks can be challenging given the plurality of leads, tubing, and devices that can be associated with the patient and that can become entangled with one another. Healthcare professionals must follow tubing from one connection point to the other, weaving through a maze of tubing, to ensure that the correct nutrition or therapy is applied. The time required for tracking the path of a tube or line can be significant, and, in rare instances, may lead to errors in the configuring of the tubes and sources. Consequently, the plethora of electronic lead lines, tubes, and medical devices in proximity to the patient presents challenges for patient care.
In other environments, electrical cables, both signal and power cables, often extend over a substantial distance. In some instances, for example, wiring positioned within walls of a structure or underground is obscured from view for at least a portion of the distance over which the wiring extends. Once the wires are placed in the walls and covered, identifying cables at different locations can only be done using specialized electrical equipment that can detect a signal at each location of the cable. In other environments, such as a home computer or home theater arrangement, a user may have a substantial number of power and signal cables located within a small area. The cables can become entangled, and substantial effort can be required to identify the cables at each end.
To address these issues, users have been known to apply pieces of tape with handwritten identifiers to the cables or tubing. However, the adhesive on the tape can lose its tackiness and the tape fall off the cable or the handwritten identifiers may become illegible. In addition, tapes and adhesives can leave sticky residues causing cables or tubing to bunch and become even more entangled. A more robust system for identifying conduits is therefore desirable.